Ensamble Continuo is dedicated to exploring, recreating, and promoting the musical connections between the Hispanic baroque period and traditional music from Mexico and Latin America. This overlapping breaks the imaginary musical wall dividing them by opening new possibilities for enjoying, expanding, and understanding music. Continuo blends baroque guitar music pieces gathered from Spanish and Mexican tablatures, and links them with contemporary Mexican and Latin American sones. By exploring commonalities in terms of musical practices and instruments, it puts together a music, singing, and dancing show which revives the festive spirit of 17th century and contemporary fandango gatherings (popular festivities with live song and dance).
Their show is a fandango-concert exploring subtlety and contrast in music, dancing, and singing. The program includes Spanish and Mexican baroque music for guitar and tiorba linked together with sones from Mexico and Latin America. These include sones from Veracruz, Tixtla (Guerrero), the Huasteca region, Michoacan and Jalisco, as well as Bambuco and Joropo music from the plains of Colombia and Venezuela. This musical interweaving aims at showing how 17th century baroque music and traditional contemporary Mexican and Latin American music are two faces of the same coin, distant in time and close in spirit. They can be blended together in one single festivity and one single fandango.
Ensamble members are: Enrique Barona, Eloy Cruz and Leopoldo Novoa. They studied music at the National School of Music in Mexico City, as well as in many other music institutions in Mexico, Colombia, the U.S.A., and France. They currently teach at UNAM, Morelos Center for the Arts, and Ollin Yolistli Center. They also organize and direct workshops on building and playing traditional instruments in the state of Morelos (Mexico).
Regular guest artists often collaborating with Tembembe include: Patricio Hidalgo (composer, improviser and jarana player) ; Zenén Zeferino (composer, improviser and jarana player): Ada Coronel (singer), Donají Esparza (dancer), Ulises Martínez (violin), Miguel Cicero (harpsicord), Hille Perl (viola da gamba) Lee Santana (Theorbo) and Steve Player (guitar).
Tembembe has performed in Mexico’s main concert halls as well as performances in United States, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Colombia, Malasya, Singapore and Korea.
To date, Tembembe has recorded CDs with important labels such as Urtext Digital Classics, Sony, BMG-Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Alia Vox (Catalonia).
Tembembe has performed in several festivals and chamber music seasons, such as: International Early Music Encounter in Mexico City; National Encounter of “Jaraneros” in Tlacotalpan, Mexico; International Cervantino Festival; Gateway to the Americas (N.Y, USA); Early Music Festival in Gijón, Spain; Eldkirch Festival (Austria); Singapore Arts Festival; Chamber Music Festival in Bogotá, Colombia; Hi Seul Festival in Korea.
Recently, Tembembe has developed a strong collaboration whith maestro Jordi Savall and Hesperión XXI, performing in several tours accross Europe and the U.S.A.
